Description
Book SynopsisIn this deeply personal memoir, Hugh Segal looks back on a life that took him from childhood poverty to the heights of Canadian politics and how these early experiences shaped his life-long advocacy for the poor.
Trade ReviewBoot Straps Need Boots is a great Canadian memoir of a poignant Canadian experience recognizable to millions. And it is more than that. Segal recalls as a 12-year old the day Prime Minister Diefenbaker spoke to his school assembly. Diefenbaker had a way of mesmerizing schoolchildren. “The family table we call Canada is the finest table in the world,” said the Prime Minister. “There is space and food for all.” Here Segal comes to the point of Boot Straps, a plain argument for a national guaranteed income program.
-- Holly Doan * Blacklock's Reporter *
Segal’s book reflects the author’s deep understanding of his country. He has travelled widely, especially during his Senate years, talking to hundreds of people who share with him a lived experience of poverty. He lucidly explains the hardwired link between poverty and spiralling health-care costs. Cutting the first will mean dramatic reductions in the latter. -- Jamie Swift * The Kingston Whig-Standard *
Table of ContentsForeword by Andrew Coyne
Preface
1 The Cheery Edge of Poverty
2 The Missing Toy Box
3 Happiness, Anger, Religion, and Hockey
4 A Special Assembly at School
5 Starting the Political Voyage
6 Clear Choices Emerge
7 Policy Linkages and a New Idea
8 Sinews of Impunity
9 Learning from the Best
10 On the Davis Team
11 From Public to Private and Back
12 Learning from Mulroney
13 The Battle in the Senate
14 Testing a Better Way
15 Courage and Fairness Matter
Appendix; Selected Bibliography; Index
